Method and apparatus for wrapping uncured tubes from cured tubes



T. A. JORDAN AND A. E. CAESBER.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING UNCURED TUBES FROM CURED TUBES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 12m.

1,405,418. Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

wuewto'm, Tnoms AJORDAN& ASAECAESDER.

36 an attocwzq.

United States,

To all whom "it Be it known that UNITED sTATEsPAiEu'T orr ce.

oneness JORDAN AND-AQA nicnnsnnn, or

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS T o. o r. rnm comrnnr, A oonronsn mn or mmmm. mnraon AND intents roe wmrrme mwcunnn TUBES mom comm mums.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

Continuation of application No. 401 344, filed August 4, 19 20. This application filed Kay 4, 1921.

' Serial No. 466,794.

may concern:

we, THOMAS and'AsA E. CAESBER, botircitizen p and residents of Indians lis, county of arion, and State 101 Indiana, have invented certain new i nd useful Improvementsin Methods and Apparatus for Vrupping Uncured Tubes rom Cured JORDAN Tubes, of which the following is eff ull," clear,

and exact description. v

' This invention. relates to the manufacture of tubular articles of ru'bber composition and tires. And this application is particularly to inner tubes for pneumatic ofour pending and allowed application Serial No. 401,244, filed August 4, 1920. V

In the manufacture of inner tubes it is usual to form unvulcanized gum 7 into a a sheet there around a pipe or pole. ieretofore and practice to tightly generally, it has been the fabric wrap it thus formed green tube with.

Wound helicelly thereon under. tension, and

with its edges overlapping. The-wrapped pole is then placed in a fvul tube cured. Afterwsirds the of fabric is removed and tube stripped from the pole. The wrapping strip, of course, has to be used overnnd over again, and re eatedly wrapped and unwrapped until it is worn out, suehreuse being economically necessary owing to the cost of the wrappers. l

The outside edge of the overlap wrapping strip the vulcanized larger diameter than the contacts direct-l. with the stock. onthe pol-e. Consequently tieoutsido edge of the strip. is stretched or distorted more than the insideedge. When the wrapping strip during vulcanization is subjected to high temperature the relative elongation or distortion of tho edges is set or rendered permanent. Hence the necessity for up lying the strip to on Mr cured tube in tluasame relation as it had to the cured tube jiibout which it had been previously wrapped, if, of course, the strip 15 to be used again and again until worn out, as is essential to economical production of inner tubes from a cinnmerciul 'stzuuL point.

The removal oi the strip of i'ubrir ui'tel' curing the tube. according to the prior pin-ictices. has been ucuoinplished by spooling up bf the at continuation wrapping and odoheli... eally wound strip defines a helix ofslightly. inside; edge which.

on a short stick or mandrel. And recently it has been proposed to unwind the fabri strip from the cured tube helicall onto h. bare pole known as a dummy. n either case a strip so removed may be reapplied to an uncured tube preparatory to its vulcan- .1zntion in substnntially'the relation it comes off of the cured tube.

This latter is therefore important and essential to the success ful commercial manufacture of tubes especially when repeated subjection of the wrapping strip to wetting and curing treatments increases or aggravates the inequalities in the length of the edges of the strip and makes it more difficult to apply the same smoothlyto the green tubes.

The present invention contemplates a method and apparatus for manipulating the strip insuch a way as to permit of its applic -etion to an uncured tube on a pole from n cured tube in a single operation and of its application over and over again to the tubesuntil worn out. It further aims to provide a method'und apparatus for wra ping and unwrapping inner tubes smoothly and without wrinkles that might cause indentations or blemishes in the product. It aims to avoid a step in the prior practices and furthermore to reduce the wear and tear on the wrapping strip. It further contemplates an apparatus for attaining the above objects which permits of simultaneouslv unwrapping different six-ed. tubes.

; \Vith the embodiment of the inventionillustreted' in the drawings in mind, and without intention to needlessl limit ourselves, the invention may be sai to consist essentially of a lathe having spindles-for supporting a pair of poles in parallelism, one of which is adapted/to be driven, in combination with an inverting device for giving the strip u half turn in its passage from ('luod tonncurcd tubes on poles. The method (on templates a suooth wrapping of uncured tubes simulhmgously with the unwrapping of a cured tub...

These arcthe objects of our invention and other objects thereof will uppeiir in the iollowing detailed description of the. amour punyiug drmrings, in which:

Fig. l is :1 plan view of u lathe with a strip inverting appliance arranged in operuiirc position thereon, and

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

F ig. 3 is an elevation of a yieldable support for a smoothing bar.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, which are illustrative merely of its underlying principles, a green or unvulcanized tube 1 is mounted on a pole 2 which is rotatably supported between a yielding cone carrying spindle 3 and a socketed spindle 4 which is adapted to be driven in any suitable manner as by a pulley 5. The various parts are suitably supported on a body or frame 6 of a lathe, which has arranged thereon in a generally parallel rela tion a similar set of spindles 3 and 1 supportin in a freely rotatable manner a second po e 7 carrying a rubber tube 8 that has been vulcanized while wrapped in overlapping helical convolutions of a strip 9. The afore-mentioned .parts are of old and wellknown construction.

Supported by cross bars 10 between members of the frame 6 are a suitable number of brackets 11 sustaining horizontally a tension or smoothin bar 12. The bar 12 may be secured rigidfi in lace but preferably, as shown, is yieldab y supported on opposed coiled s rings 121 and 122, in sets of three, two beow and one above the bar. Each sprin reacts against an adjustable abutment 123. he bar 12 may be guided in any suitable manner as by slotting it at 124 to receive a stud-screw 125. The adjustable abutments are threaded in an auxiliary bracket 111 which is suitably secured to the main bracket- 11. Any suitable number of these sets of three springs may be employed, one at each end of the bar 12 as illustrated in F; will suflice. On one side of the brackets 11. guides or rails 13 and 1 1 are provided for a carriage indicated generally by the numeral 18, the former being mounted on the brackets 11 and the latter on the upper surface of the frame 6. ireferably overhanging one edge thereof. liollers 15, 16, 17 and 17 are adapted to tru h the rails 13 and 14 and permit movement of the carriage th tealong. Suitably mounted on the carria -e 18 are a pair of inclined cylindrical rolls 19 and 20 and a guide 21. While it is preferred to permit the rolls l9 and 20 to freely rotate and to hold the guide 21 stationary, they may be otherwise supported if desired. For instance all of these parts may be permitted to rotate or they may all be made stationar The members 19 to 21 are preferably inc ined to one another :11 the angles indicated on the drawing. but bviously-their inclination both horizontalh and vertically'rnay be varied as desired to handle wrapping strips of different widths or to vary th' pitch of the helical wrapping. And if desired the supports for the several members l9-20-21 may be made adjustable in any suitable manner to adapt a single machine for handling all sizes of tubes and to facilitate the setting up of the machine.

The carriage 18 is freely movable along the rails 13 and 14V in parallelism with the poles 2 and 7. But it may, if desired, be moved automatically lengthwise of the machine. The illustrated construction, however, is deemed preferable because it permits proper wrapping of an uncured tube of a different size from the cured tube being unwrapped, For quantity productiom. however, it may be found desirable to actuate the carriage 18 mechanically after the fashion'of the carriage on a metal lathe.

In operation a helically wrapped and previously vulcanized tube on a la is positioned as indicated at 78 on th: drawings. The fabric 9 is conducted therefrom around the members 19, 20 and 21 as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, thence over the tension or smoothing bar 12 to the uncured tube on the adjacent parallel pole 2. At the start of the operation the carriage 18 is located adjacent the ends of the poles and when the pole carrying the uncured tube is started rotating, the wrapper 9 is applied thereto in substantially the condition is comes off of the cured tube. As the operation proceeds the carriage 18 travels or shifts lengthwise of the lathe. In the operation of the machine illustrated in the drawings, the operator of the machine is not required to exert himself to any extent to shift the carriage 18 and with suitable anti-friction devices the carriage may be rendered automatic inoperation, that is, it may be shifted by the fabric as the wrapping and unwrapping proceeds, at least during the ma'or portion of the operation. By the yiel able sup ort for the bar 12, the strips 9, on suddenly initiating the wrapping operation, are prevented from breaking across the smoothing edge. And any sudden stress on the strips 9 is also re lieved by the s ring 121.

From the above detailed description it will be seen that I have provided a machine or apparatus which is simple and efficient in operation. It gives a half tirrn or twist to the tape to insure that the elongated edge comes to the outside of the uncured tube and the shorter ed comes to the inside in exactly the condition that experience has shown to be necessary to the smooth wra ping of tubes and so that the product wil l not be blemished.

It will be obvious that many changes may cally to the green tube with the same edge in contact with the rubber, it is obvious that the poles may be disposed at an angle to one another and more or less twist given the stri The the invention realized but such a process is of the portion of the strip in direct contact with the rubber varies in practice from sa to one-third the total width of the strip.

And While the distortion, or unequal edge stretching, is most troublesome in manipulating strips that have been repeatedly subected to curing treatment, difl iculty may a so be; encountered in wrapping from a caring treatment away for an i 7 allow the rubber composition to set while confined and compacted by volntions of t is ordinarily moistened and applied under tension. The spirally coiled. moistened and tensioned strip is likely to have its respective edges stretched unequally regardless of whether or not it is cured before the wrapper is removed. e present invention. therefore. is intended to comprehend manipulation of strips however their edges have become un equally distorted, or stretched, if. and pro vided. it is necessary. in order to eliminate wrinkles in the wrapping strip. to spirally .wrap the strip with its edges in the same relation to the respective composition tubes and overlapping.

laving thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of manipulating fabric in the manufacture of tubular articles of vulcanizable rubber composition which consists in simultaneously and repeatedly removing I wound and overlapping strip of flexible material from a cured article and applying it smoothly to an uncured article, regardless of inequalities in the length of the respective edges of the upon its repeated subjection 2. The method strip consequent to curing heats. of manipulating fabric in the manufacture of tubular articles of vulcanizable rubber composition which consists in simultaneously unwrapping and win-upping a strip of fabric from and onto cured and uncured tubes respectively with one and the same edge of the strip overlapping the other edge thereof throughout subtubes at the ending of the opera- -l. The method of manipulating fabric in the manufacture of tubular articles of vulcanizable rubber composition which consis-ts in simultaneously unwrapping and wrapping a strip of flexible material from and onto cured and uncured tubes respecthe edges of the strip in the same relation to the composition tubes and overlapping.

4. The method of manipulating fabric in the uumutacture of tubular articlet of vulcaiuzable rubber con'iposition which: con sists in inverting a warped strip of flexible material. whose edges are of unequal length wlu e twisting the stnp through an angle of 180 and ()"GPLIPPIHY its edges.

6 i apping apparatus havin a lu ducted from one to another of the may be supported by said pole supports.

7. wrapping lathe having a H a rappm lathe havin a pluraht of pole supports for demountably sustalning poles in parallelism in combination with a,

a plurality at an inchot inverting members arranged said pole supports and nation to the axes of to each other.

9. A traverse mechanism for lathes comprising a strip turning traverse mechanlsm, and a snu'iothim; mcm ber arranged to act upon a strip intermcdi ate the traverse mechanism and one of the poles supported by said spindles.

11. A wrapping lathe having of pairs of pole supports. means for rotating; at least one of vsaid pole supports. in combination with a shittable strip inverting trarerse mechanism sustained by said lathe. said pole supports being arranged lll 5tttlltltlll in parallelisnL and said strip inverting traverse mechanism being movable in a direction substantially parallel with the axes of said pole supports.

12. The method of manipulating fabric in the manufacture of tubular articles of Valcanizable rubber composition which con sists in simultanemlsl unwrapping and Wrapping a strip of fabric from and onto cured and uncured tubes respectively with one and the same edge of the vstrip overlapping the other edge thereof throughout substantially the length oi the tubes at the beginning and at the ending ol' the operaa pluralit tion but with opposite faces contacting the respective tubes.

- 13. A wrapping lathe having a plurality ol spindles for supporting poles in parallelism, in combination with a strip inverting traverse mechanism, and a yieltlably supported smoothing member arranged to act upon a strip intermediate the traverse mechanism and one of the poles supported by said spindles.

l4. 'lliat method of manipulating fabric at rips in the manufacture of tubular articles of plastic composition so as to permit repeated use, of the strip without blemishing the articles which consists in simultaneously wrapping the strip in overlapping spiral convolutions about one of the tubular articles and unwrapping it from a second tubular article, the same edge of the strip being overlapped and exposed in repeated use. Signed at Indianapolis, Indiana. this 29th day (Ii April. 1921.

THO A. JORDAN. ASA E. (,AESBER 

